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Literacy Glossary of Terms Updated January 2010 APP GLOSSARY Term adjective adverb Definition A word that describes someone or something. This includes comparatives and superlatives. Adds to the meaning of a verb, an adjective, another adverb or a whole sentence. There are 4 types of adverb. They describe how, when, where and how often adverbials / adverbial phrase see also: phrase, A group of words that function in the same way as a single adverb. Example big helpful bigger/biggest Adverb+verb thoroughly enjoyed Adverb+adjective quietly confident Adverb+adverb extremely slowly Adverb+sentence really, he should know better! How – slowly, happily Where – outside, upstairs When – yesterday How often - regularly quietly a few days ago Context He put the apples in the big basket. The old lady was assisted by the helpful girl. The bull grazed noisily in the field. The small boy quickly fixed the puncture on his bike. The children walked quietly. They left a few days ago. Term expanded noun phrase, verb phrase apostrophe brackets parenthesis Definition Example when we went out Context When we went out it was raining. An apostrophe is a punctuation mark used to indicate either omitted letters or possession. Omitted letters when a verb is contracted or shortened: I’m (I am) They’ve (They have) It’s (It is/It has) Isn’t (Is not) Possession: The cat’s tail (one cat) The boys’ coats (many boys) The parents’ car The children’s toys (children is a plural) NB: The dog is eating one of its (apostrophe not used for possession) bones. It’s (apostrophe used for omission – It is) the biggest dog I’ve seen. A parenthesis is a word or phrase inserted into a sentence to explain or elaborate. It may be placed in brackets or between dashes or commas. ( ) Sam and Emma (his oldest children) are coming to visit him next weekend. The clown – a colourful character – laughed out loud. Sarah is, I believe, our best student. Term clause (+ subordinate and main ) Definition A clause is a group of words that expresses an event or a situation. It contains a noun (subject) and a verb. see also complex sentence colon comma A colon is a mark used to introduce a list or a following example. It may be used before a second clause that expands or illustrates the first. A punctuation mark used to help the reader by separating parts of a sentence. A comma is either used: to separate items in a list; to mark off extra information; Example NB a clause differs from a phrase Phrase: a big dog Clause: a big dog chased me Adverbial clause: It was raining when we went out. Noun clause: What you said was not true. : , Context The dog chased the ball when the boy (subject) threw (verb) it. Animals: cat, dog, mouse He was very cold: the temperature was below zero. I wore a coat, scarf, hat and gloves. The teacher, Mrs Jones, wore a coat. Although it was cold, no-one was wearing a coat. Term comma splice complex sentence see also: sentence for simple and compound sentences Definition after a subordinate clause which begins a sentence; with many connecting adverbs. When the writer is experimenting with clauses within sentences but has not yet secured control of sentence demarcation. When commas are inappropriately used to punctuate clauses or phrases in complex sentences, where a full stop or connective is needed. A complex sentence is a sentence with a main clause and at least one subordinate clause. Example Context Anyway, in the end I decided not to have a go. Running down the road, Harry could not see where he was, he tripped over the pavement. Should be: Running down the road, Harry could not see where he was. He tripped over the pavement. OR: Running down the road, Harry could not see where he was so he tripped over the pavement. Should be: Jane was crying, she was afraid. Jane was crying. She was afraid. OR: Jane was crying because she was afraid. When I saw what you had done, (subordinate clause) I was sad (main clause). Sam loved to play tennis (main clause), although he wasn’t very good at it (subordinate clause). Term Definition compound word A word made up of two other words. A word or phrase that joins ideas in different parts of a text: clauses, sentences or paragraphs. Connectives can be conjunctions or connective adverbs. connective see also conjunctions Example rainbow football sometimes Simple connective: and, Reason: because Additions: also, furthermore Time indicators: meanwhile, later Opposition: but, however, on the other hand Reinforcing: besides, after all Indicating result: so that, therefore, consequently Explaining: For example, in other words Listing: First of all, secondly Context Sometimes you can see a rainbow when there is rainfall and sunshine together. The boy and girl played together on the sand while the parents sat on the deckchairs. I was angry, but didn’t say anything to my friend. On the other hand, the dog was quite friendly with children. Term conjunction see also connective content word (also lexical words) derivational prefix/suffix dashes Definition A word used to link clauses within a sentence. See Grammar for Writing glossary for coordinating/subordinating conjunctions. Example and, but, or, if, when, after, although, while Subject specific words normally words in the four word classes of noun, verb, adjective and adverb. Give related words different meanings and /or change the word class blue toga evaporation A dash may be used to replace other punctuation marks (colons, semicolons, commas) or brackets. - Context It was raining but it wasn’t cold. Do you want to go out or shall we wait a bit longer? We were hungry because we hadn’t eaten all day. Although we’d had plenty to eat, we were still hungry. The blue toga was worn by the powerful emperor. (adjective to adverb) quick – quickly (addition of ly) (Adjective to noun) modern - modernity prince/princess unimportant It was a great day out – everybody enjoyed it. The dog – who barked loudly – ran down the road. Term Definition digraphs Two letters that together represent a sound (phoneme) expanded noun phrase see also: phrase, adverbial phrase, verb phrase Example Context Vowel digraphs: ea, ir, oo, ow, ai Consonant digraphs: ch, th, ss, ll, ff A group of words that The demon-like teacher The tall, imposing monument was made function in a sentence like with blood-shot eyes from cool, white marble. a noun. They expand a The mysterious woman single noun giving more in black information economically. The sporty red car with a sunroof The syntactic grammatical relationships between function (non lexical words – the job that each words) word does in a sentence / phrase/ clause. Words within a sentence that perform a function and have little identifiable meaning – normally preposition, determiner, conjunction and pronoun. e.g. the, a, these He (pronoun) gave me (pronoun) this (determiner) book before (preposition) I (pronoun) went out quickly (adverb) and (conjunction) played. Term Definition Words which sound the homophone same , but are spelt differently and have different meanings A change to the ending of inflected words a word to indicate tense, number or other grammatical features. Doesn’t change word class. Words that carry lexical words information. They are also (also content words) known as content words or information words. Normally nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs. The smallest unit of morpheme meaning. A word may (+ suffix /prefix) contain one or more morphemes. Suffixes and prefixes are morphemes NB a free morpheme stands alone while a bound morpheme needs the rest of the word. Example flour/flower aloud/allowed board/bored new/knew play: playing, plays, played lonely: lonelier, loneliest house, houses Animals’ specific names mammal carnivore Context We are not allowed to shout aloud in the corridor. The lonely boy plays on his own. The loneliest boy was playing on his own. Snakes are reptiles which can be venomous. Conductors are materials that allow electricity to flow through them. house house/keep/er (house and keep are free morphemes ; the suffix ‘er’ is a bound morpheme) Examples of single morpheme words are: rain, come, run, go, have, school, play, ground, sad, happy, whistle, grow, whisper, Term Definition Example Context Succinct phrasing which No smoking Often found in non-fiction writing, nominalisation - for conveys key information Bullet-pointed list made such as reports, adverts, posters. succinctness appropriately for the up of phrases rather purpose of a piece of than sentences. writing. Instructional text with Sentences that have been simple actions and not I saw a pirate who had a long face and shortened because words adjectives or adverbs. a fierce look on his face. have been removed, but > I saw a fierce, long-faced pirate. are more effective. A word that denotes Common nouns: noun somebody or something. person, electricity My younger sister won some money in Proper nouns are the Abstract nouns: a competition. names of people, places or happiness see also: expanded things. A collective noun Proper nouns: noun phrase refers to a group. Birmingham, November Collective nouns: people, games, herd A section of a piece of paragraph writing. Marks a change of A new paragraph begins on a new line usually with a gap focus, time, place or separating it from the previous paragraph. speaker. Helps writers organise thoughts, A new paragraph may also be indented. readers to follow the story-line. Term phrase see also: adverbial phrase, expanded noun phrase. verb phrase prefix pronoun Definition A group of words that act as one unit to replace a single word. Example noun phrase: a big dog adjectival phrase: as old as you adverbial phrases: five minutes ago; in a hurry Context They were in a hurry when they left five minutes ago. A prefix is a morpheme which is added to the start of a root word Mis - wrong/badly Sub - under Pre – before in time, in front of, superior I am so misunderstood. We walked through the subway Dinosaurs are prehistoric animals. personal – I/me/you I am happy. possessive – mine yours interrogative – who/whom relative – which/whoever indefinite – That drink is mine. Can replace a noun or noun phrase to make sentences less repetitive. There are several kinds: Personal: specific person Possessive: ownership Interrogative: questions Relative: links phrases and clauses Indefinite: refers to Who is the main character? The owl who was afraid of the dark. Does anyone know where I put Term punctuation sections semi-colon Definition Example unspecified person another/anyone Reflexive – subject of reflexive – the sentence myself/himself The most commonly used punctuation marks in English are: apostrophe, brackets (parenthesis), colon, comma, dash, ellipsis, exclamation mark, full stop, hyphen, semicolon, speech marks and question mark. When information is grouped together but is not organised into paragraphs. A semi-colon can be used to separate two main clauses in a sentence. Semi-colons can also be used to separate items in a list if these items consist of longer phrases. ; Context my glasses? The runner was very proud of himself when he won the race. I liked the book; it was a pleasure to read. I wanted some ripe, juicy tomatoes; a large can of olive oil; half a pound of unsalted butter; and a jar of black olives. Term sentence speech marks subordinating connective Definition Example Context A sentence can be simple, A simple sentence It was late. compound or complex. consists of one clause. A compound sentence It was late but I wasn’t tired. has two or more clauses joined by and, but or so. Each clause has equal weight – both main clauses. A complex sentence Although it was late, I wasn’t tired. consists of a main clause which itself consists of one or more subordinate clauses. In text speech marks Helen said, ‘I’m going home.’ or (also called inverted “What do you want?” I asked. commas or quotes) mark the beginning and end of direct speech. Direct speech is the speaker’s original words – as in a speech bubble. A connecting word although Although I had saved up, (subordinate introducing a subordinate that clause) I still did not have enough clause in a sentence. It because money. ‘......’ “……” Term see also: clause, subordination, sentence, subordination see also: clause suffix syntax tense inflection unstressed syllables Definition determines the relationship of meaning between the subordinate and main clause. The use of main and subordinate clauses within a sentence. A subordinate clause does not make sense on its own. A suffix is a morpheme which is added to the end of a root word. Example until before whereas If you push that button, …… …….when you finish painting. walking helpful comfortable Context Unless you pack your case, you won’t be able to go on holiday. You may have an accident if you do not take care when you cross the road. I was talking to Sam. The car crash was accidental. That behaviour is not acceptable. Syntax is the study of sentence structure: how words interrelate to form sentences / clauses. It is the understanding of how nouns, verbs etc work together. The ending of a verb which denotes tense. ed A beat in a word that is not sounded out. parliament library government interesting he played they hurried Term Definition verb phrase/chain Two or more words that express an action or state of being. see also: phrase, adverbial phrase, expanded noun phrase vowel digraph see also digraph for consonant digraphs Where two vowels or one vowel and a consonant work together to make one sound. For further definitions refer to Grammar for Writing glossary. Example different generally marvellous literacy memorable (see Spelling Bank Page 52 for more examples) are going didn’t like has been waiting Context I have been standing here for a long time. ow oe ai or